How do Chameleons eat?

[BeardedBeings]

ok so I don’t mean like “how” how, I know they use their tongue. But, how vivacious are they in feeding? I have a 10 month old bearded dragon and he eats everything I hand feed him on-the-spot. I can’t leave any roaches in his cage that he can eat later because he’d just eat all of them within an hour. Do chameleons eat like this all at one time? Or do they eat a little bit throughout the day, so you just leave a cup full of insects in there?

 

[JacksJill]

Nothing eats like a beardie. Chameleons will drive you crazy with finicky behavior and periodic hunger strikes. Growing chameleons and many females have respectable appetites. Adults generally only get fed every other day. Some eat all at once and some eat a little now & a little later. Some will only eat bugs on the move, others from a feeder, some love worms and hate crickets, some love crickets and hate worms. Some will only eat what they haven't had for a while and need rotating feeders. They are very individual and vary by species. All that said watching them shoot bugs from across their enclosure is so worth the price of admission.
I use a feeder just to keep the number of loose bugs down in my house and to better track appetite. Many people free range some feeders like crickets but put worms in a feeder.

 

[BeardedBeings]

Nothing eats like a beardie. Chameleons will drive you crazy with finicky behavior and periodic hunger strikes. Growing chameleons and many females have respectable appetites. Adults generally only get fed every other day. Some eat all at once and some eat a little now & a little later. Some will only eat bugs on the move, others from a feeder, some love worms and hate crickets, some love crickets and hate worms. Some will only eat what they haven't had for a while and need rotating feeders. They are very individual and vary by species. All that said watching them shoot bugs from across their enclosure is so worth the price of admission.
I use a feeder just to keep the number of loose bugs down in my house and to better track appetite. Many people free range some feeders like crickets but put worms in a feeder.

So, in Beardie-land, leaving crickets in the enclosure is one of the biggest no-no’s ever since they can bite the beardie. Are free range crickets ok for chameleons? Will they bite him? Also, how long after lights-on or how before lights-off can you offer the insects?

 

[jamest0o0]

As mentioned, chameleons can be hogs to very finicky. Certain species eat more or less as well. The best thing to do is feed them as much as they can eat early in the day as a juevenile. Some chameleons can be a real pain and refuse food for over a week, hell Parson's can go months during the winter lol.

The whole crickets biting thing is a little bit of a misconception. When we hear it, it is almost always because the cricket is starving due to no food being around. If you have a bioactive substrate with plenty of things to munch on, or simply some veggies sitting in the cage, the crickets will go for that instead. I have had small colonies of crickets living in my enclosures without any problems for a year or so personally.

 

[Fireborn]

I have a chameleon that would eat itself to death if I let it and another who rarely eats.

 

[CHIMP]

I would say each one of my little ones are very different. Different attitudes, and different feeding behaviors. My female veiled will eat just about anything I am willing to give her. She has even been sitting on her perch and tried to grab my food off my plate. (No joke). My male veiled will only eat once I leave the room. And my panther is in the middle. He only eats on his perch. Does not matter if I toss crickets in or hand feed.